Improvement in the manufacture of revenue and other stamps



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Letters Patent No. 101,020, dated March 22, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF REVENUE AND OTHER STAMPS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame I, GEORGE T.'JoNEs, of the city of Cincinnati, in the State ofOhio, bank-note engraver, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in the Manufacture of Internal-Revenue, Postage, and otherStamps, which improvements are described as follows:

Nature and Objects of the Invention.

cancellation.

The first object of my improvements is to prevent the fraudulent reuseor subsequent issue of any such stamps after cancellation, by extractingor obliterating the ink or marks used to cancel them.

The second object of my improvements is to furnish an efi'ective checkagainst fraudulent imitations by the usual methods known and employed incounterfeiting.

General Description.

The most important principle of my invention consists in the printingof-stamps from separate steel dies or surfaces engraved in relief (orfrom plates) with two or more kinds of ink of different colors,diflering in their chemical nature or composition, whereby the use of anink of one color, or of a class tested and known as sensitive to, andsoluble under the action of alkaline agents, being used in directrelation to and combination with another colored ink, or inks, alikesensitive to the action of acids, the application of either an acid oralkaline agent to the stamps so printed for the purpose of extractingthe commercial writing-inks generally used for cancellation, or ofremoving the oil-prepared printing-ink affixed by mechanical means forthe same object, will so immediately and inevitably deface or remove oneor more of the colored inks used upon the stamp, that its vitiated andchanged condition is so unmistakably apparent as to render it utterlyunfit for further use.

The respective devices printed upon the stamps with these diiferentkindsof ink should be so disposed and combined that any cancellation-markapplied to the stamp will be certain to cross parts of both or all suchdevices, so that the defacement or destruction of the stamp willinevitably result from an attempt to re move the cancellation-mark fromany part, by any agent.

A part or all of the printing of my improved stamps may be performedupon paper before the same is sized, or when it is but partially sized,and one mode of carrying out the first part of my invention,hereinbeforc set forth, consists in printing a portion of the devices orwork of the stamp upon unsized or partially sized paper, then applying asize or coating of material readily soluble in alkalies, and afterwardsprihting upon this surface with an ink soluble in or sensitive to acidsor printing with ink soluble in or sensitive to alkalies on a surface ofa material readily soluble in acids, so that the use of either an acidor an alkaline agent to remove cancellation-marks from such a stamp'will inevitably cause the destruction or defacement of the devices lastprinted thereon, bythe removal of either the ink or the surface on whichit is applied.

My invention also includes the introduction and use of inks of the mostpermanent kinds known, in combination with those inks already referredto as sensitive or soluble, by which means any portions of a stamp'thatare deemed essential to its specific identity can be so firmly imprintedand incorporated with the texture of the paper that removal cannot beeffected without causing obvious and irreparable injury 'if notdestruction of that fabric.

The foregoing indicates the main object and advantages of my inventionin respect to prevention of the reuse of stamps. In this connection Iwould refer to the hindrance and difficulties presented by my process tosome of the various modes and resources usual in counterfeiting as adirect andnecessary result from my adaptation and use of thechemically-prepared colored inks, and by which several of the mostimportant aids to fraudulent imitation, such as are inherent to theordinary methods of engraving and printing stamps, and similarinstruments, are essentially defeated and rendered worthless. The usualfacilities for softening the single common ink and transferring the samefor the purposes of the counterfeit plate are thwarted.

Similar obstacles likewise to imitation by the litographic mode are alsoproduced, while counterfeiting by the photographic process is renderedvirtually impracticable and useless.

As further and effective means of preventing counterfeiting, the stampsproposed by my invention admit of the use of, and should have, the mostperfect vignettes and elaborate devices that the skill of the bestartistsand mechanics can produce.

The new method of color printing from the separate adjustable steelsurfaces, or dies, besides affording unusual scope and variety in thechoice and use of colors, and insuring completeness in execution withentire uniformity and accuracy in production, will form a powerfuladditional warrant against any successful imitations.

In the practical use of my invention I do not purpose or propose anylimitation as to the number of inks or colors that may be used upon anystamp, except'that, sufficient and proper inks shall always form suchconstituent parts as to demonstrate the action of my improvement for theprevention of reuse of such stamps by the removal of any marks ofcancellation which have been put upon it. Nor do I restrict myself toany particular materials or ingredients in the manufacture of the inks.V

For the purpose of illustration I subjoin recipes for two inks ofdiiferent colors, which may be used with,

good effect in carryingout my invention.

For red ink, take of carmine, sixteen parts; magnesia, eight parts;copperas, two parts; ammonia, one part. l

The above is delicately sensitive to and soluble in acids. A

For purple ink, take of aniline blue, sixteen parts; drop lake, sixteenparts; magnesia, eight parts; pearlash, one part.

This ink is readily soluble in alkalies.

Claims. The following is claimed as new:

1. A stamp for internal-revenue, postal, or other purposes, printed withtwo or more inks of different kinds, one of which is sensitive to orsoluble under alkaline agents, and another of which is sensitive to orsoluble under the action of acids, substantially as and for the purposesset forth.

2. The printing of stamps for internal-revenue, postal, or otherpurposes, with two or more inks of different colors, and one or more ofthem sensitive to or soluble in acids or alkalies, for the objectstated.

'3. The combination of one or more fugitive, sensitive, or readilysoluble inks, with a more permanent or insoluble ink, substantially asset forth, in the printing of internal-revenue, postage, or otherstampsa 4. The combination of any suitable ink or coloringmatteremployed in printing internal-revenue, postage, or other stamps, with asurface for printing upon delicately sensitive to the action of chemicalagents.

5. The stamp, made substantially as hereinbefore described,foriuterual-revenue, postal, or other purposes.

GEO. T. JONES. Witnesses:

Oomvms KNIGHT,

WM. H. BRERETON, Jr.

